Introducing our 2023 Keynoters: Bruce Barbour and Valerie Luesse

This year's Southern Christian Writers Conference keynoters are Christian publisher and book agent Bruce Barbour and Christy Award-winning novelist of Southern fiction Valerie Luesse. They will provide a wealth of both information and inspiration to our 2023 attendees, and we can't wait to learn from them!

Bruce Barbour will present the Friday night keynote session, which is titled "Called to Tell God's Story" He will also present a workshop, "How to Present Your Book to Agents and Editors."

Bruce has been active in book publishing for more than 45 years, and is the fourth generation of a Christian publishing family that has served authors for more than 150 years. His great-grand uncles, Fleming H. Revell and Dwight L Moody, started publishing books in 1870 and Bruce has continued that
legacy at Christian publishing companies in sales, editorial, marketing, operations and management positions He has held executive positions (including Vice President and Publisher) at Revell Company, Barbour and Company, Random House, and Thomas Nelson. He founded Literary Management Group, a full service literary agency and publishing consulting firm, in 1987 and has represented best selling authors and properties.  

He will also offer one-on-one consultations with interested SCWC attendees. Literary Management Group works with Christian authors who are writing faith-based books and general interest business/inspiration/self help books. He is currently representing adult, nonfiction books. After registering, SCWC attendees will provide information about one-on-one consultations with Bruce and other representatives.

Learn more about Bruce at his agency's website.

Valerie Fraser Luesse will present the Saturday keynote presentation, entitled "Southern Fiction: Where Storytelling and Faith Meet." She will also present a workshop, "Fiction Techniques: Setting, Dialogue, and More."

Valerie is the author of novels set in the South, including the Christy Award winner Missing Isaac (2018).
Her other novels include Almost Home (2019), The Key to Everything (2020), Under the Bayou Moon (2021), and Letters from my Sister (2023), all published by Revell Books. Under the Bayou Moon was recently announced as the 2022 Fiction Book of the Year by the Alabama Library Association. As Senior Travel Editor at Southern Living Magazine, Valerie is also an award winning magazine writer; she's especially known for major pieces she's written on the Mississippi Delta, Acadian Louisiana, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Her editorial section on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina won the 2009 Travel Writer of the Year Award. She earned her bachelor's and master's degree in English from Auburn University and Baylor University, and is a native of Harpersville, Alabama. She lives in Birmingham, where she creates her fiction from a tiny writing studio called the Story Shack.

Learn more about Valerie and her books at her author website.

Registration for the 2023 Southern Christian Writers Conference opens on March 25. (There will be a early bird special for $120, until April 25.) Stay tuned here on the SCWC blog and at the website for registration updates and information on how to sign up.